Thursday, January 29, 2015

[ SYRIZA has folded some more. Now Greek pensioners pay money to the IMF so that the IMF can pay Ukraine, so that Ukraine can pay Russia's Gazprom. ]
[ Deleted. There is no point. SYRIZA folded and voted to extend the ridiculous sanctions against Russia. The dream was nice while it lasted. Move along, people, nothing to see here, just some more fake European "democracy." ]

[ People have convinced me that SYRIZA should not be written off. Their first order of business is, quite understandably, lifting austerity imposed on the Greek people, not changing EU foreign policy. Still, my preference is not to lobby politicians, and to treat them as forces of nature, of a perverse kind. I try to adhere to Solzhenitsyn's maxim of "Don't trust them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them." ]

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The massive brain rot that is observable in the US can perhaps be explained by the “fracking fluid in the drinking water” theory; but what about the rest of the English-speaking world? This is a guest post by Gary Flomenhoft that offers some clues.

I’ve been in Australia (pronounced “Straya”) for four months now. I live in Brisbane and have traveled to Melbourne, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, and Stradbroke island. I’ve met my share of Australians around the world over the years. They are all “how’ya going, G-Day mate, no worries,” eternal optimists, and very nice people. They all, every single one of them, say thank you to the bus driver when exiting the public bus. They are happy, they are polite, they are kind. They live thousands of miles from most of the world, and haven’t got a care. Go for a surf, eat some prawns or Moreton Bay bugs, hike in the hills, enjoy life! Obsess about cricket, Australian Football League, National Rugby League, Rugby Union, soccer, any kind of sport.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

[En français]The following article appeared briefly at this URL on censor.net.ua and was quickly pulled down. Ironic? It would seem so. My translation. I bring it to you because it succinctly lays out the situation as I've been able to piece it together from multiple Russian- and Ukrainian-language sources, and because you are unlikely to come across anything this truthful from cough Western media cough.

“Panic in Kiev: Ukrainian forces surrender Donbass”

International observers report of growing panic in Kiev in connection with the successful counteroffensive of the separatists near Donbass.

Over a week of fighting the partisans have delivered a heavy blow to the Ukrainian forces. The group of Ukrainian fighters in Donbas suffered huge losses, the soldiers are demoralized, the officers are confused and unable to control the situation.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Over the course of 2014 the prices the world pays for crude oil have tumbled from over $125 per barrel to around $45 per barrel now, and could easily drop further before heading much higher before collapsing again before spiking again. You get the idea. In the end, the wild whipsawing of the oil market, and the even wilder whipsawing of financial markets, currencies and the rolling bankruptcies of energy companies, then the entities that financed them, then national defaults of the countries that backed these entities, will in due course cause industrial economies to collapse. And without a functioning industrial economy crude oil would be reclassified as toxic waste. But that is still two or three decades off in the future.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

← Ancient Slavic god Zimnik: a squat old man, long hair the color of snow, wears a white coat, always barefoot. Carries an iron staff, one swing with which instantly freezes everything solid. Can summon snowstorms, ice storms and blizzards. Goes around taking whatever he likes, especially children who misbehave.

Recent events, such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the secession of Crimea and its decision to join the Russian Federation, the subsequent military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, western sanctions against Russia, and, most recently, the attack on the ruble, have caused a certain phase transition to occur within Russian society, which, I believe, is very poorly, if at all, understood in the west. This lack of understanding puts Europe at a significant disadvantage in being able to negotiate an end to this crisis.

The killing of the staff at the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo by Moslem assailants who said that they wanted to die as martyrs, and the subsequent killing of the assailants, together with their hostages, by the French police, could not have failed to produce strong emotions. For instance, my friend Bruno had this to say. I don't entirely disagree, especially about the undue haste of the French police, but I do want to make a few points about methods.

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

This may seem like an odd line of reasoning to pursue given what everyone else seems to be saying. Some are thinking that 2015 will be a repeat of 2014 with a few incremental changes (always a safe bet, but makes for boring reading) while others are warning of the potential for a nuclear confrontation between the US and Russia (always a possibility, on par with an asteroid strike or a supernova in our galactic vicinity). But this is all more of the same. The interesting question to ask is, How has the ground shifted in 2014, if indeed it has?

Monday, January 05, 2015

I have decided to streamline the operation a bit. Now, instead of piling collapse, English spelling, boat design and various miscellaneous projects all into one blog, I will have one for each:

ClubOrlov

For collapse-related items of interest, geopolitics and various bits of practical philosophy, please keep coming back here.

Project Unspell

For Project Unspell (which is up and running; I am putting the finishing touches on unspelled Tom Sawyer) go to unspell.it.

S/V Quidnon

For reading about and helping me think through a boat design project for a “houseboat that sails,” please go to quidnon.blogspot.com. I will be updating it on a daily basis between now and whenever all the design issues are resolved.

Also, if you are looking for a place to go hiking, mountain-biking, skinny-dipping or bird-watching in Massachusetts, go to masstrails.com and use a special-purpose search engine I built.